Daily Planet Surprise
by Gabriella Jane London
Summary: Set in the future, Clark Kent is now working at the Planet and Lex Luther shoes up. This is in a world in which Lex never found out Clarks secret, he just speculated on it and then forgot about it when Superman showed up on scene. One-shot of friendship.


When Lex Luther walked into the Daily Planet, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared. Not much had been heard of Lex Luther in the past few years, his nefarious activities had either stopped entirely or else he had gotten much, much better at covering his tracks. Also, there was no reported contact between him and Superman, their infamous rivalry seemed at a standstill. Lex was forty eight, and where as others at this age were going through the mid life crisis or at least starting it, he seemed to be slowing down, a move that shocked everyone, however, his company, LexCorp, was doing better than ever and his total worth was up to 119 billion dollars. So his sudden appearance after being out of the spotlight for a good four years was shocking. Even more shocking though was the fact that he went right to Clark Kent's desk.

Clark Kent however, wasn't there, as per his usual, he was gone, mysteriously vanishing. Lex glanced around the room at the curious eyes before simply sitting at the desk and pulling out his phone. Lois Lane, the only brave enough person in the room finally walked up to him after about five minutes, her hands on her hips.

"Lex Luthor, can I help you?" she asked, her voice clip. She didn't like him, she thought he was always up to no good and she didn't want him here, and she was infinitely curious to why he was here in the first place and what on earth he was doing sitting at Clark Kent's desk.

"Yes, do you know where Clark Kent is?" he asked, standing up.

"No,… why are you looking for him?" She asked, her eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to answer her, but a loud crash from about twenty feet away caught both of their attentions. It was Clark Kent, now apologizing profusely to the poor man he'd toppled over accidentally. He straightened his tie, pushed up his glasses and made his way towards his desk, stopping up short in surprise upon seeing Lex.

Lex stood up straighter and lifted his head.

"Hello Clark." He addressed, sounding too formal for talking on a first name basis. Lois found that particular thing odd. He used Kent's first name, but when he'd addressed her, he'd used Miss Lane, always the professional.

Clark seemed at a loss for what to say, he just stood there his mouth slightly agape, looking confused beyond belief.

"Do you think we could talk?" he continued on, when it became apparent he wasn't getting a response anytime soon. That whipped Clark into action though and he nodded his head yes.

"Uh, sure,… I t-think the conference room is open." He led the way without another word.

"Miss Lane, lovely speaking with you." Lex said in a polite but dismissive goodbye as he followed after Clark Kent.

Once in the room Lex shut the door behind him, though privacy was limited anyways given that the walls to the conference room were made entirely out of glass.

"So, uh, what, what can I do for you?" On the inside, Clark was completely confused. He hadn't talked face to face with Lex in a good twenty years, they'd pretty much had a silent understanding to never mention their failed friendship and now here Lex was, wanting a conversation.

"Nothing, I just wanted to talk… " Lex said, trying to gather his thoughts. Theoretically, this shouldn't be too hard but now that he was here, he was, admittedly, nervous.

"Clark, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything that happened between us, I'm sorry about the betrayals and about the lies, and I just wanted to apologize to you for the things I did and said to you… You were my only friend and sadly, that hasn't changed in all of the years that have passed. So I wanted to apologize to you."

"Lex, you don't have to do that." Clark tired to say but Lex cut him off.

"No… I do. I just- I just got caught up in it all you know? And you with your big secret that everyone was scrambling to know, it just got me sidetracked and then I couldn't get you to tell me, and now that I look back I shouldn't have been focused on that, I should have been focused on being your friend. But well… I was never a very patient person, was I?"

"But, we both kept secrets, I kept my fair share of them, I lied to you, I lied to a lot of people and well, I guess I'm just tired of all of the lies. So I've been turning everything around, my company is legal, and I needed to apologize and I don't expect you to forgive me or anything, but I just wanted you to know, that I'm sorry, I really am." Lex was quiet then and huffed a sigh of exhaustion, and in truth, he was exhausted, he was tired of being alone, tired of trying to keep a certain image about him, he was tired of having piles of guilt surrounding him. So he had turned his life around and his last step to reclaiming his sanity was apologizing to the only person who had truly believed in him, who had truly tried to help.

Clark saw this exhaustion and in truth, he was feeling the same thing. He was forty one years old, he had no disernable friends other than Jimmy Olsen who he never saw outside of work, his dad had been long dead, his mom had passed two years before, Chloe was entirely off the grid and sure, he had the league but outside of that working relationship, he was alone and in truth, he missed his friend. Could they be friends again? Could they just, not erase the past, but move on from it?

If that was to happen, certain truths had to be brought out in the open, he'd have to tell Lex the truth about who he was. It wasn't like he hadn't toyed with the idea when he was younger, after all, he and Lex were friends, but his parents had forbade it and so he didn't say anything. What would happen if he did tell Lex? Lex would either keep it a secret or not, and it's not like his keeping Superman's secret identity a secret was protecting anyone. There was no one left to protect. The silence around them grew thick and after he took a deep breath, he made his decision.

"Come on." He said simply and he walked out of the door, a confused but relieved looking Lex trailing behind him. Lex didn't know what Clark was thinking, but it didn't seem to matter too much, he'd gotten what he needed to off his chest and he felt better, the ball was in Clark's court now and if he choose to just ignore what he'd said, then so be it, it's not like he deserved anything more than that. Clark was leading them to his desk, he needed a piece of paper, a pen, he needed to write something down, something he dare not say aloud, something he needed to tell Lex, whatever the cost. He got to his desk, grabbed a blank not pad and wrote quickly before folding it and handing it to Lex.

"Here, this is it… " Lex took the paper, confused but he didn't open it.

"It's the big secret of Clark Kent." Lex stared down at the paper then, his eyes widening but still he didn't open it.

"Why tell me now?" Lex asked, looking over at Clark, the small note still closed in his hand. Clark just shrugged, not really able to answer, after all, there were a lot of reasons. Lex went to open the note but Clark's voice stopped him.

"Lex, I am who I am, even if I didn't know it before." Clark's words were vague and confusing until Lex opened the note. After he did so, the phrase, 'I am who I am' took on a whole other meaning.

One the small piece of paper, drawn in pen was the symbol that had become synonomous with truth and justice around the world. It was Superman's shield, the classic S that he wore on his chest.

'I am who I am' rang through Lex's ears. This was the secret? Lex wondered in shock.

"Clark?" he asked, his voice no more than a whisper as he stared up in shock. Clark again just shrugged, this time though, it looked like an apology. Then Clark opened his mouth to say something but Lex stopped him, holding up and hand and then shaking his head no. He then held up his pointer finger, asking silently for a minute and he turned around, trying to wrap his head around the bomb that had just been dropped in front of him.

What he would have given to have this information a decade ago. But now, he knew that the ball was once again in his court. What the hell was he supposed to do now? Without really thinking he whipped around and swung at Clark, catching him directly in the jaw. Clark barely had time to react and lean away from the blow, in fact he just managed to lean away enough so as not to break Lex's hand, but it landed hard and sounded bad.

"Shit." Lex stammered under his breath, holding his fist. Clark had stumbled back from the punch into his desk chair and when he stood back up, sure enough, there was no blood. Lex just had to check. Clark stared at him in shock and confusion and that confusion grew upon the not angry or infuriated look on Lex's face. There was a ghost of a smile on Lex's face, along with some taunting that had a friendly edge to it. Clark narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath before quickly grabbing the scruff of Lex's shirt and punching him right back. Lex fell back into the desk before righting himself, hand on his face. Reporters were swarming them now, confused and freaked out. Clark Kent and Lex Luther had just started punching each other in the middle of the office. When Lex stood to face Clark and he removed his hand, sure enough, there was blood on his hands and in his mouth.

"You always did draw blood with one punch." He said, a smirk on his face. Everyone was staring at them, completely confused. Clark and Lex's faces both distorted, trying to hold back a laugh. When their eyes met, though, they couldn't hold back any longer. They laughed loudly and the stares continued. They both knew that in that moment, they'd be friends again. The past was the past and the future was the future and that was truly all that really counted now.

Lex and Clark both leaned against Clark's desk, both strangely giddy with a weird high of relief.

"Damn, I haven't laughed that hard in years and even then, not sober." Lex said.

"Same here Lex, same here." Clark responded with a sigh as their laughing stopped.

"Seems we have a lot to talk about." Lex said before glancing at his watch. It was almost one o'clock, lunch time, and he was starved.

"Want to get some lunch?" he asked Clark who was just nodding his head silently.

"Sure." Clark said with another laugh. This was all so surreal, so completely unexpected, but then, that's how Lex had always been, unexpected. They both shrugged off the desk and made their way towards the elevator after Clark grabbed his coat.

Once in the elevator Lex started with the questions.

"So,… what you said earlier, just before I opened the note? What did you mean by that?" Lex asked. It was bugging him, what did he mean about not knowing before?

"I meant that I didn't know yet. The day we met, on the bridge, and yes, you did hit me with your car, sorry for lying, well that day, I still didn't know I wasn't human. I found out the next day after I'd returned that truck to you."

"Seriously? You didn't know?" Lex said then, turning to stare at Clark, surprised. Clark shook his head and looked over at Lex with a smirk.

"I landed on Earth when I was three Lex, I have no memory of my life on Krypton, I had no idea." Then the doors to the elevator opened and two men, previously friends, then enemies, turned friends again walked out.

Naman and Sageeth were brothers once again.


End file.
